Doctors Fighting Ebola in Africa Present Findings in Philadelphia
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Doctors who have spent time on the front lines battling the Ebola virus overseas and in the US made presentations today at the Infectious Disease Conference, here in Philadelphia.
Dr. Robert Fowler works for the University of Toronto and has spent the past six months on the ground in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, where thousands have died of Ebola.
Fowler (at lectern in photo) says those countries lack the medical infrastructure needed to treat the disease -- something that's available in the US and makes an outbreak here very unlikely.
"It's a disease that the US has prepared for -- it has an excellent acute-care system to treat patients," he told the conference.
Dr. Craig Smith agrees.
"It's not surprising that the Americans who came back sick have done very well," he says. Smith, a spokesman for the Infectious Disease Society, says even though there is no cure for Ebola, there is effective treatment.
"Even if we can't treat Ebola primarily, we can support your body until your body has burned it out or gotten rid of it," he says.
Smith adds that Americans should be more concerned with the flu, a disease that claims 30,000 lives each year.